According to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) 2006 Independence Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, the majority of consumers (87.2%) plan to celebrate Independence Day this year. Despite having to dig deeper into their wallets to fill up their gas tanks, more than one-half of consumers polled (53.2%) said that increased gas prices would not impact their holiday spending.

“For many, the 4th of July is the most anticipated celebration of the summer,” said Tracy Mullin, President and CEO of NRF. “Consumers are as eager to hit their favorite stores for specials and promotions as they are to head outside and celebrate the holiday with family and friends.”

This year an increased number of people will be barbecuing or cooking out (60 % vs. 48.8% in 2005) for the July 4th holiday. In addition, 91.1 million people will celebrate with fireworks or a community celebration, up from 77.7 million in 2005, and 22.9 million people plan to travel or take a vacation this Independence Day, up from 18.6 million in 2005.

“High prices at the pumps aren’t slowing down consumers this Independence Day,” said Phil Rist, Vice President of Strategy at BIGresearch. “Rather than take a long trip over the holiday weekend, many people are opting to stay close to home, celebrating with neighborhood picnics, barbeques and fireworks.”

In anticipation of the impending holiday, many retailers will be stocking their shelves with plenty of red, white and blue merchandise.

According to the survey, 25.0 million consumers plan to purchase patriotic goods this month and more than a quarter (28.4%) of those polled plan to take advantage of special sales and promotions during the extended July 4th holiday weekend as well.

Popular shopping destinations include discount stores (39.8%), department stores (34.5%), online (14.6%) specialty stores, such as greeting card/gift stores and electronics stores (12.6%), and specialty clothing stores (10.2%).

Additional July 4th numbers:

The NRF 2006 Independence Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the extended July 4th holiday. The survey was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch. The poll of 7,479 consumers was conducted from June 7-14. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percent.